Well, that’s not exactly what happened, but you wouldn’t know it to hear some Islanders fans, a few of whom want criminal charges brought against Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist and his teammates for slashing, spitting, and cursing at the lovely Islanders’ Ice Girls.

The Ice Girls are comprised of 12 young ladies, ages 18 to 26, scantily-clad and charged with the hybrid job description of part-cheerleaders, part-grounds crew. One of their primary on-ice functions is to clear ice shavings, or “snow,” from in front of the benches and creases. This is standard practice in every NHL building (though usually reserved for professionals and not teenage girls), and in fact, part of the rule book, though not strictly enforced.

In many instances, goalies – notoriously quirky and compulsive – don’t wish to interrupt their concentration during TV time-outs and opt to remain in their creases. In such cases, the on-ice crew do their best to work around the goaltenders without disturbing them. Lundqvist is one such goalie – “a recidivist TV time-out crease-blocker,” according to Newsday’s Steve Zipay.

During the first period of Tuesday night’s game at the Coliseum, Lundqvist reportedly refused to move for the Ice Girls, and became angry when one girl came in contact with his stick, responding with a violent slash across her squeegee. The girl, Kelli Higgins, was not injured, but said she was “shocked” by the goalie’s reaction. Lundqvist and teammate Sean Avery argued with officials over the issue in each successive timeout, and eventually the goalie allowed the girls to work around him.

“For 65 Games I didn’t move,” Lundqvist told Zipay. “But suddenly I guess they changed the rule.”

The controversy didn’t end there however. According to Newsday’s Greg Logan, another Ice Girl, Chanel Benson, claims she felt moisture hit her back on her way passed the Rangers bench. Believing she had been spit on, Benson left the ice crying.

“I was disgusted and upset,” Benson told Logan. “That’s why I started crying. All of a sudden, these grown men are hitting Kelli and spitting on me? It was unprofessional, and they shouldn’t have done it. We’re just there to do our job. ”

Newsday’s Jim Baumbach meanwhile provides the reactions of a few fans who attended the game and witnessed the incident between Lundqvist and Higgins.

With their season swirling down the toilet, many Islanders fans are using the bizarre controversy as a rallying point for their Ranger hatred. However Islander fan and Newsday blogger Jonathan McCarthy thinks the whole mess is “Another Islander embarrassment.” Says McCarthy:

Going to an Islander game is now more akin to going to see the Long Island Ducks. The days of Trottier and Nystrom are so far removed from the product on the ice (even though there are 5 minute homage’s to both player at every home game).
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During the first period at Tuesday’s game they actually showed a note on the scoreboard that the Islanders have clinched the season series against the Rangers, as if that matters to anyone. The only thing more laughable was the fact that they showed playoff ticket information. Not to mention that the crowd was at least 70% Ranger fans to begin with.

That brings me back to the Ice Girls. Do you think if the Islanders were as good as they were in the 80’s that there would be Ice Girls? Of course not. There are no ice girls in Montreal, Calgary, and Detroit. The difference between all those teams and the Islanders? They all have a better shot than the Islanders at making the playoffs this year.